the Lords saluation SECT 2. The Ministers must principally be humbled and seeke to humble others BVt because our nature is ready to post off duties and to take that which is said in generall to all as if it belonged to none in particular like some master that hath oft his worke neglected when hee speakes to all his seruants at once because he inioynes not euery one his taske I therefore subdiuide this duty into seuerall Branches and cut and carue euery one his part and portion First then we that are Ministers wee must be ring-leaders in the dance of this duty we must tread out first these humble modest measures we must prologue and beginne the first Act in these penitentiall parts not onely for our owne personall priuate sinnes which commonly come to be publique and publisht as daingerously scandalous to the weake exemplary to the wicked offensiue to the godly and a stumbling-blocke to all must we be humbled euen to the very dust beat as it were euen to powder weeping if it were possible more bitterly then Peter more abundantly then Mary Magdalen confessing more then Augustine z In libris Confessionam to God and his scandalized Church till we haue washt and wiped away all these aspersions and blots which a sinning life hath cast vpon sound and sincere doctrine but euen for the sinnes of the times must we be humbled yea the sinnes of the Land in generall of the places where and of the people amongst whom wee liue must be vnto vs as they were to Noah a 2 Pet. 2.5 Lot b Gen. 19. 2 Pet. â— 7. Dauid c Psal 119. Ieremy d Ier. 9.1 in their times no small cause of humiliation chiefly when there is wrath threatned or feared to come vpon the Land and Nation wherein we liue or that we see the fire already kindled in some begunne iudgement temporall or spirituall and wee see the crying sinnes of the times calling for prologuing and heralding still greater then are wâ— in a speciall manner aboue the rest to humble our selues the Lord calls vpon vs as Ioel vpon the Ministers in his time to weepe betwixt the Porch and the Altar e Ioel 2.17 and to cry to the Lord to spare his people we should take vnto vs words f Osee 14.3 and say to the Lord Take away all iniquity and receiue vs graciously we should as Iob for his sonnes g Iob 1.5 rise vp early and offer sacrifices for the sinnes of our people we should like Aaron take the Censer h Num. 16.46 47. of a cleane and vpright heart and put thereon the fire of zeale and offer vp the incense of faithfull and feruent prayer and make an aâ—onement for our Congregations as soone as euer we perceiue that wrath is gone out from the Lord and the plague is begunne we must with Moses and Aaron oft feruâ—nâ—â—â— intercede for our people as they did with great importunâ—ty i Num 16.22 Deut. 9.25 26 27. Exod. 32.10 v. â—2 Psal 106.23.30 yea our prayers must oft with Moses euen stand as it were in the gap betwixt the Lords iustice and the peoples sinnes we must pray euen for hard hearted Pharaohs yea as did Abraham we must intercede for such as Abimelech k Gen. 20.17 and Ismael l Gen. 17.18 wicked and paganish men yea euen such as the vncleane Sodomites both to turne them from their sinnes and to keepe and remoue iudgements from them that their soules may liue or if we see there is no other remedy but they will needs lye and dye in their sinnes our soules must yet with Ieremy weepe in secret for them we must mourne for them and bewaile as it were their soules funeralls as Samuel mourned m 1 Sam. 16.1 for reprobate Saul And as we must thus humble our selues aboue all others that are the inhabitants of that Ierusalem in which we liue when wrath in any measure is come vpon the times so we must by all meanes preach and presse and procure the humiliation of our people wee must as the Cocke n Gallus praedicatoriâ— symbolum apud Reusnerum clap our owne wings to awaken our owne hearts and then crow aloud lifting vp our voices like Trumpets to awaken others we must shew Iacob his sinnes and Israel his transgressions o Esay 58.1 together with the iudgements hanging ouer their heads by reason of sinne we must cry vnto them with Esay Esay 1.19 Ier. 3.14 Wash you make you cleane with Ieremy Returne O disobedient and rebellious children we must desire them to returne from their euill way and repent that the Lord may repent of the euill he purposeth vnto them because of their euill doings Ier. 18.8 Ier. 26.1.2.3 We must tell them their iniquities separate betwixt God and them and that their sinnes hide his face from them p Esay 59.2 we must tell them that the reason of all former felt iudgements which call for new whether blasting mildew cleannesse of teeth pestilence of Aegypt or what euer q Deut. 28. Leuit. 26. is because they haue not turned to the Lord nor prepared themselues to meet their God Amos 4.9.10 We must expostulate with them as Moses with Pharaoh how long they will stand out in their rebellions how long it will be ere they humble themselues r Exod. 10.3 We must tell them that all their outward sacrifices and seruices without this serious humiliation are but abominations before the Lord Å¿ Esay 1.11 and that the onely thing the Lord requires aboue all burnt offerings is the sacrifice of a broken and humbled heart t Ps 51.16 17. aboue the offering of the first-borne We must tell the hypocrite the Lord requires he should walke humbly before him Micah 6.6 Wee must stand vpon the Watch-tower with Habakkuk and waite for the vision and tell the proud Peacockes of our time that the soule which is lifted vp is not vpright within him u Hab. 2.4 We must exhort all with Zachary to turne vnto the Lord that the Lord may turne vnto them Zach. 1.3 We must cry to the rich and proud extortioners as Daniel to Nabuchadnezzar to breake off their sinnes by repentance and to redeeme them by almesdeeds Dan. 4.24 We must exhort all to search themselues to try and examine their wayes before the decree come forth * Zeph. 2.2 and they bee as chaffe before the fire of the fierce wrath and anger of the Lord Wee must exhort all to afflict their soules x Leuit. 23.27 to put off their costly rayment y Exod. 33.5 and to turne to the Lord in fasting weeping and mourning c. We must preach to a sinfull people as Iohn the Baptist to the Iewes z Mat. 3.1 as Peter a Acts 2.38 to Christs crucifiers to Simon Magus b Acts 8.22 to repent of their wickednesse and to amend their liues else we must
since set as Centinels and Watchmen they would not awaken others SECT 3. Magistrates and great ones must be humbled NOw as the Ministers must both be humbled themselues and be the meanes to humble others so the Magistrates also whether superior or inferior must moue in the next place according to their motion Moses falls flat on his face groueling before the Lord for the sinnes and rebellions of the people as well as Aaron u Num. 16.45 not only Ezra the Scribe but Zerubbabel Iohecaniah and the rest of the Princes and Fathers of the Families were humbled before the Lord * Ezra 9.1 because the people of Israel the Priests and the Leuites had not separated themselues from the people of the lands Ezra 10.2 3. doing according to the abominations of the Canaanites Hittites Perizzites Iebusites c. so as we haue heard when Israel was smit before the men of Ai Ioshuah rent his cloathes and the Elders of Israel Iosh 7.6 So in that exigent Iehosophat was put vnto by the Ammonites and Moabites he himselfe first proclaimes a fast throughout all Iudah and personally x See my Irelands Iubilee in Dauids practice these exemplified primarily purposely sets himselfe to seeke the Lord So at the dedication of the Temple Salomon himselfe humbles himselfe more then all the people in the presence of all the Congregations of Israel spreading forth his hands and praying before the Altar of the Lord y 1 King 8.23 So Esther a great Princesse is as forward as her handmaids to humble her selfe in fasting and prayer for the preuention of the common intended destruction Esth 4.16 But aboue all the King of Niniuy is a most excellent president in this practice to all Princes and his Nobles to all Magistrates for he and they not onely decreed and proclaimed a fast for the people yea for man and beasts but themselues as breaking the ice to the rest by their good example layd by their Robes couered themselues with sackcloth and sate in ashes Ionas 3.6 7. other great Peeres haue done the like z As Theodosius before his battell with Eugenius apud OrosiuÌ„ l. 7. c. 35. Ruffin lib. 2. c 23. Charles King of France warring against the Saracens Casp Hedion lib 6. cap 15 Arcadius apud Diacorum lib. 15 Clodoucus a French King in his warre with Alaricus the Goth apud Turonensem Hist lib. 2. cap. 37. Lewis of France against the Suâ—uians apud Auentinum lib. 3. and Oâ—ias the high Priest apud Iosephum lib. 14 cap. 1.2.3 Antiq. cum aliis And indeed that I might by Gods blessing be as a spurre or goade to all Princes Potentates Rulers Magistrates Gouernors in warre Elders in peace to doe the like vpon the like occasion to imitate the noble and princely patternes of these great Princes and Peeres Ezekiah Ioshuah Iehosophat Dauid Schecaniah Salomon the King of Niniuy and others as they are desirous to imitate their fame-worthy heroicke acts in other particulars as also that all Empresses Queenes Duchesses Ladies c. would not thinke themselues too good to lay off their gorgeous attire their costly raiment to remit their reuels and restraine their Court delights after the example of Queene Esther the goodliest godliest greatest Lady one of them that the world euer had and in any common or particular great crosse and calamity to turne musicke and maskes into mourning singing into sighing delights into dolours feastings into fasts c. Me thinks there be reasons and inducements besides these presidents and exemplary patternes which man is naturally apt to imitate in the worst things to perswade and inforce this best of duties As first because by this meanes they may bring a great deale of glory to God which being the end of euery Christians creation preseruation vocation redemption yea euen of saluation it selfe reserued in the heauens this glorifying of God ought to be the end and aime and scope of the actions and affections of the meanest and the greatest the very marke that all should shoot at and desire to hit much more the greatest who placed in a higher orbe aboue the rest and adorned with moe priuiledges the more that they for a time when Gods hand is vpon them stoope low before the Lord remit their height and their greatnesse abate and bring downe their high spirits vnplume and disroabe themselues of their gorgeous attire abstaine from their sumptuous and superfluous dishes and euery way by their lookes words gestures attires meats outwardly as in their hearts and spirits inwardly cast downe themselues before the God of all spirits and fall low before the throne of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings acknowledging with humbled Nabuchadnezzar z Dan. 3.28 and that Darius a Dan 6.25 26. his rule and soueraignty ouer all flesh and so consequently ouer them throwing downe their rods their Scepters yea with the Angels and Elders b Reu. 7.11 chap. â— 8 in the Reuelation euen their very Crownes before the Throne of the Lamb giuing all honour glory power praise soueraignty and dominion from themselues to him that sits on the Throne c. Oh this brings wondrous honour and glory vnto God euen as when petty tributary Kings as once amongst the Romanes c Reguli or Deputies as our Viceroy in Ireland or Presidents of Yorke or Wales and sometimes here in England d See Lanquets or Coupers Chronicle exceedingly honour the great King that rules ouer them and their Prouinces when they at set and certaine times come to acknowledge their homage Fealty subordination and subiection vnto him and indeed as the greater the person is that sinnes the more God is dishonoured so the greater the person is that is humbled the more is the Lord honoured euen as in the Irish warres if a great Earle a head Rebell had come in and submitted himselfe to an offended Princesse it had beene more honour to a Maiden Queene then if this had beene done by an ordinary Kearne so the humiliation of a great Peere brings more glory to God then of an inferiour person Besides as a further fuell to this motiue let this be as a Nouerint vniuersi knowne vnto all to high low mighty men and meane men that who euer haue taken away glory from God by sinning as indeed all flesh haue by deprauing themselues in originall and actuall sinnes depriued God of that glory hee requires of men and Angels euen the very same indiuiduall men or women in their owne persons by their owne Penitence without any substitute for them euen here in this life in vnfained humiliation confession and contrition must againe restore glory vnto God * Ioshua 7.19 or else they shall neuer be glorified in heauen let Canonists dispute what they will about vsuries terrestriall I am sure without this spirituall restitution e Nisi restituatur ablaetum non demittitur peccatum Canonistae ex patribus there is no saluation f
briefly the difference betwixt prosperity and aduersity or the different carriage and condition of men yea sometimes of the best men in these two different estates Ezekiah in his sicknesse hauing by no lesse then a Prophet as the mouth and vnerring Oracle of God receiued the dismall sentence of death sets his house in order and no doubt of it sets his heart in order turnes himselfe in his bed o 2 King 20.1 2 3. remembers his sinnes in the bitternesse of his soule mournes like a Doue chatters like a Craine p Esay 38.14 turnes himselfe to the wall and weepes q vers 2. turns himselfe from man and from humane meanes now vnauailable vnto the might and mercy of God as the Needle toucht with the Loadstone * Apud Albertum lib. 2. metal tract 3. cap. 6. Plin. lib. 36. c. 16.26 turnes to the Pole and so rests reposed in the soliloquies of his soule hee poures out his heart and his spirit before the Lord vnloades his burthened soule in the Lords bosome vnfolds his griefes cryes for redresse with such zealous feruency and importunity that his prayers and â—iaculations darted from faith and feeling surmount the Clouds ascend as fiery meteors * Arist lib. 1. 2. meteor Mizaldus lib. 1. Cometog c. 4. the highest Regions penetrate and pierce the Heauens as importunate sutors and vrgent Ambassadors haue audience acceptance and a comfortable answer from the God of Heauen euen to the reuoking and recalling of that conditionall sentence r vers 4 5 6. and verdict as after with the Å¿ Ion. 3.10 See D. Abbot B. King in loc Niniuites which God himselfe had passed vpon him And the like demeanor we haue of him in another strait and exigent when Senacharib brings such an Army against Ierusalem as his railing Rabsakah in the pride and presumption of his heart christned and called as once that Armado which threatned this sinning Iland Inuincible t 2 King 18.22 23 24. then hauing as u 2 Chro. 2.12 Iehosaphat said and did in the like case no power nor strength in and from himselfe his people being but as a little flocke of Kids to the troopes of the Assyrians that were spred as Grashoppers he betakes himselfe to the Lord as an indangered child by the ramping of a Lyon and a Beare cryes to his father * 2 King 19.15 16 17. makes speedy recourse to the God of Hostes as the Tempest-driuen Ship puts for the shore in the day of his trouble cals vpon the Lord makes him as euery Christian ought to doe in the like extremities his rocke x Psal 18.1 his refuge his Asylum and Sanctuary spreads the Letter of reuiling Rabsakah before the Lord intreats the prayers of the Prophet Esay y 2 King 19.2 for himselfe and his distressed people hath a comfortable answer according to his faith z vers 6 7. vers 20 21. A promised hooke a vers 28. put in the nostrils of Senacharib an Angell employed in his behalfe as the organ of Gods wrath to make riddance of his enemies b vers 35. euen 1085 at one clap but now here is an alteration in Ezekiah Noua rerum facies a metamorphosis a strange change Mutatus ab illo Totnam as the phrase is turnd French Ezekiah in his prosperity hath got a cooler his hot zeale hath caught cold It is luke-warme or rather key-cold or frozen for want of stirring and agitation as a standing poole in a winters freeze the next newes wee heare of Ezekiah he is vnmindfull of that God who was so mindfull of him and mercifull to him he forgets God he renders not according to the benefit receiued Oh thus it was with him thus it is with vs Application thus with most of vs with best of vs yea euen generally with all of vs so farre as corruption and our carnall vnregenerate part preuailes as it preuailes in many too farre in our aduersity we seeke the Lord in the pressures of pouerty penury vpon our estates sicknesse aches paines diseases vpon our bodies Infamy scandall reproach vpon our names horror vpon our soules terror vpon our consciences we perhaps presse hard to the Lord by prayer petition supplication wee wrastle with him as c Ose 12.4 Iacob to blesse vs wee cry to him as the Disciples in the tossed d Luke 8.24 ship as Peter walking on the waters ready to e Mat. 14.29 30 sincke or inuironed with our enemies by sea or land beset with horse and foot as Dauid once by f 1 Sam. 23.26 Saul hunted and pursued by our enemies as the Partridge by the Hawke in perill by the fury and force of any of the creatures animate or inanimate Fire Water Wolues Dogges Beares Lyons wee cry out as Iehosaphat did in the battell when the Archers shot at him g 2 King 22.32 and put him in perill yea in sicknesse chiefly and the summons of death wee turne our selues to the wall and weepe we wash our beds with teares as Dauid h Psal 6.6 wee make perhaps many faire hights and vowes and promises to God of reformation of much amisse mortification of many lusts stricter life and conuersation vpon our restitution to health which we indent with God we confesse any thing as men on the Racke in the tortures of conscience wee will suffer any launcing for the healing of sinnes wounds for the asswaging of their rage wee will couenant and promise any thing as Schoole-boyes vnder their Masters Ferula when alas when the Lord easeth our shoulders from our burthens which we cast vpon him when the God of Iacob deliuers vs out of troubles when he pluckes vs out of the stockes and sets vs at liberty puls the strait shooe off our foot takes vs off the Rackes leaues smiting and scourging vs seemes to burne our rods as it were before our faces turns our stormes into calmes Alas then wee forget him as some man doth his friend that hath done him most good in his need perhaps saued him from the Gallowes wee remember the Lords kindnesses as fooles and children remember good turnes or as the Oestrich remembers her egges buried in the sand Our promises wee keepe with God as the perfidious Carthaginians and lying Cretians i Titus 1.12 with men as the banquerout his word Bill or Bond with his creditor our vowes in sicknesse proue still languishing and sicke vowes vnperformed euen in our best health our deuotions are as hot as some sea mens who pray aloud and cry out as Ionas Marriners k Ionas 1.5 in the storme and are Reuben-like l Gen. 4â— 4 as light as water in excesse of riot vpon the land when the Lord turnes our sicknesse into health our paine into ease our perturbations into pleasures our pouerty into plenty our daingers into delights c. we then turne praying into playing fasting into feasting mourning into musicke sorrow
Vipers cryes the voyce of that Cryer who hath fornewarned you to auoyd the wrath or the vengeance to come g Math. 3.7 Euery tree that brings not forth good fruit shall be cut downe and throwne into the fire Bring forth fruits therefore worthy of repentance and amendment of life h ver 10. So S. Peter in his canonicall Epistle to the dispersed Iewes in Asia Bythiniae Capadocea i 1 Pet. 1.1 prescribing a humble and submisse cariage one towards another giuing his reason because God resists the proud and giues grace vnto the humble by an excellent climax and gradation goes from humility towards man to humiliation to wards God from the premises inferring this conclusion humble your selues therefore vnder the mighty hand of God k Ch. 5 6. and the Lord in due time will lift you vp The very same point of humiliation from the very same grounds euen in the same words is vrged by the Apostle Iames Ch. 4 v. 10. though pressed also in moe words in the verse precedent be afflicted and mourne and weepe let your laughter bee turned into mourning and your ioy into heauinesse l Iames 4.9 Consonant to this precept hath been from time to time the practice of the Saints of God not onely in a constant and conscionable course omitted now by too many humbling themselues for their daily slips transgressions but more peculiarly in extraordinary humiliations meeting the Lord as did here Ezekiah and the inhabitants of Ierusalem when his iudgements were but threatned when the brandished sword of his wrath was onely drawne and flourished as we may see in the example of the Niniuites at the threatning of Ionas Ion. 3.8 9. In the example of the Israelites terrified from the Lord by Samuel at Mizpah 1 Sam. 7.6 and affrighted of the Philistines ver 7 8. and menaced by the Angel or messenger of the Lord which came from Gilgal to Bochim Iudg. 2.3 4 5. but more especially when they haue either beene smit or wounded or more immediately in danger of wounding by this brandished sword whether weilded in the hand of God by plague or pestilence or in the hand of man in war or bloody persecutiō the striking hand hath beene assayed to be stayed by humiliation as many instances may bee giuen in holy writ as in Dauid whose pride of heart in numbring his people being curbed with the death of seuenty thousand of them swept away by the plague m 2 Sam. 24.16 as dust with a Beesome hee and the elders of Israel seeing the Angel of the Lord stand betwixt the earth and heauen with a drawne sword n 1 Chro. 21.16 fell vpon their faces cloathed with sackcloth and vpon Dauids humble prayer as once before when Phineas o Psal 106.30 prayed the plague ceased so Iehosophat being wonderfully straitned p 2 Chro. 20.3 when the children of Moab and Ammon with their mighty martiall troupes came against him from beyond the sea on this side Syria as our Ezekiah was in the like exigents when the strong and numerous powers of Senacherib besieged Ierusalem hee hauing no power nor strength to resist them betakes himself to the strong God the tower of the righteous the Lord of hosts and in the most serious humiliation that euer I read of he and all Iudah standing before the Lord with their wiues their children and their little ones q ver 13. crying weeping fasting and importuning the Lord with most feruent and effectuall prayers there was the most excellent effect in the discomfiture of their enemies in the most miraculous manner most glorious to God most aduantageous to Israel that euer was instanced in any age before or since so when Ioshua and the men of Israel fled before the men of Ai and turned their backs of the Canaanites to the losse of 36 mē Ioshua rent his clothes fell to the earth vpon his face before the Arke of the Lord Ioshua 7. vntill the euening he and the Elders of Israel and put dust vpon their heads Iosh 7 6 7. here was humiliation so when the rest of the Tribes in a good righteous cause in which victory was promised were twise put to the foyle with losse dammage by the insulting Beniamites the Israelites wondrously humbled themselues wept and fasted before the Lord a whole day vntill euening offring peace offrings and burnt offerings before the Lord and vpon that were victorious Iudg. 20. ver 23.26 So we know the practice of Mardocheus and Esther and the distressed Iewes at Sushan when their liues and bloods were sold by that wicked serpentine Hamman what Ezra and the Elders and people of Israel did r Ezra 10.1 2 when the Lord was prouoked and angred by their taking of strange wiues of the Canaanites what Nehemiah did when he heard of the great affliction reproach of them that were left of the captiuity and the breaking downe of the wall of Ierusalem and burning the Gates thereof with fire namely that in all these afflictions these feares these sinnes these sufferings they humbled their soules as here our Ezekiah vnder the mighty hand of God and had a blessed issue a gracious answer an excellent haruest vpon their deepe plowing and wet sowing I say briefly to all and euery one of vs contenting my selfe with these reasons at this time as our Sauiour to him in the Gospell vade tu fac similiter ſ Luke 10.37 Oh thou sinning soule who ere thou art that lyest open till thy humiliation haue made thy peace to all the gunshot Cannons of Gods iudgement the force and fury of all the creatures or thou that art threatned by the rod shaken at thee or the sword drawne as against Adam by the Cherubin and Balaam by the Angel or hast felt or dost feele the smarting rod of wrath vpō thy shoulders already goe thou and doe the like as did here Ezekiah Dauid those Nineuites those Israelites those Tribes Ioshua Iehosophat Ezra Nehemiah Esther Mardocheus humble thy selfe before the Lord cast down thy soule before his footstoole fast and pray and weepe and lament suffer affliction and sorrowes as St. Iames exhorts Iames 4.9 eate no pleasing meats as Daniel t Dan. 10.2 3. for many dayes let thy sighing come vnto thee before thy eating as it did to Iob cry mightily to the Lord as did Niniuie u Ionas 3.4 abhorre thy selfe in sackcloth and ashes x Iob 42 6. loath thy sinnes and thy selfe for thy sinne that the Lord may loue thee and may againe looke fauourably vpon thee and shew thee the light of his countenance and be mercifull vnto thee y Psal 87.1 that thy flesh may come vnto thee againe like the flesh of a childe that thy sad soule may be solaced that the teares may be wiped from thine eyes that thy deiected spirit may be comforted may reioyce in God thy Sauiour and be made ioyfull in the ioyes of
vide Maldonatum in Lucam cap. 19. Secondly by this meanes of humiliation all great personages shew their gratitude thankfulnesse vnto God in thus honouring him who hath honoured them yea they take the wisest and the safest course to continue and perpetuate their honours to themselues and their houses and posterity for as pride hath beene the ruine and demolition of many great families g Vide exempla supra allegata so humiliation hath beene their proppe and vpholder in withholding and diuerting from them such Iudgements as their sinnes or the sinnes of their predecessors haue deserued Thirdly as they by their humiliation bring glory vnto God and good to themselues so they bring much good to others much benefit accrewes to the soule of an inferiour by the humiliation of a superiour and that both by their example for imitation h Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis as also in Gods acceptation First for imitation the example of great ones as it is forceable in vtramque partem both towards the better towards the worse as their ill example confirmes the inferiours in sinne so their good example conformes them to good their example saith to the common people chiefly to their dependants their families obseruers as Abimelec i Iudg. 9.48 and Gideon in another case to their souldiers as yee see me doe so doe you or as S. Paul once to those he writes vnto Be ye followers of mee nay they will follow If Ioshua serue the Lord hee can giue that same testimony of his house l Ioshua 24.15 if the Centurion be a religious man one that feareth God his seruants and souldiers will bee obsequious and obedient both to God and him m Ma◠8.8.9 if Esther fast pray her handmaides will be found ioyning with her n Ester 4.16 yea if the King of Niniuie humble himselfe then his nobles will be humbled too if his Nobles then the common people if the common people then the very beasts o Ionas 3.7 yea if as it is in my Text that Ezekiah the King bee humbled then not onely his Peeres and the Elders of his people who conioyned in such a case with Dauid but euen the inhabitants the vulgar sort the commons of Iudah and Ierusalem are humbled likewise Oh the Adamantine force of example the blessed president of great persons is as the first mouer in the heauens or as the first wheele in a clock after whose motion all the rest moue it is as the Captaine that precedes his following souldiers and giues the first onset as the bell-weather that goes before the flocke as the henne that clocks the chickens after her Secondly great good it brings in Gods acceptation for as the Lord visits the sinnes of great ones sometime euen vpon their seed as Sauls sonnes were hanged vp for the sinne of Saul and Ieroboams Idolatry as also Gideons moulten image were the ruines of their house p Propter parentum scelera grassantur poena publicae in totas familias in multis instant Simon Pauli Domin 2 post Trinit Strig in 2 Sam. 9. 1 Reg 20. 2 Reg 1◠in vno peccato periurij Jnslat Pencerus in Lect. Cron. die 6 Feb. an 1574. cum Aeliano lib. 14. Diodoro Siculo l. 6. antiq in posteritate Saulis Iasonis Zedechiae Senacharebi Philippi Macedonis aliorum somtimes vpon the whole land or nation as wrath came vpon Iudah c. both in the dayes of Dauid and in the daies of Ezekiah for the sins of their Kings so Ezekiah is no sooner humbled but wrath is remoued Dauid and the Elders of Israel no sooner fall downe before the Lord in sackcloth and ashes but the destroying Angel set a worke by God at the command of the Lord of Angels puts vp his sword the deuouring plague sweepes not a man away moe as indeed when we make an end of sinning God makes an end of smiting when the child is whipt cryes and asketh pardon and promiseth amendment the rod is throwne away or broken or burnt the child is taken vp in the fathers armes set on his knee and kist and the teares wiped away from his eyes Fourthly great ones vsually liue in great sinnes either as they haue greater temptations Sathan shooting euer at the fairest markes or moe allurements and prouocations for the pleasing of corrupted nature and delighting the flesh moe obiects of vanity greater meanes to effect their ends how euer sinister moe Sycophants and Parasites to charme and lull them a sleepe in security q That flattery hath euer been the bane of Kings read Camerar in oper Succisivis c. 90. p. 448. Patritium de regno l. 7. tit 8. pag. 458. l. 5. tit 5. p. 229. Instant in Caligula Galba Alexandro Tiberio Dionysio few by redargution or admonition that will or dare offer to shake them to awake them so they had need since their sinnes are also scored chalked vp as the rest of a greater measure of humiliation for sinne their salue had need answer their sore else they are like at last to smart Reu. 6.16 Lastly the example of Dauid is remarkable when the Lord in a mercifull Iustice or Iust mercie sends to Dauid after hee had numbred the people this option or choyce that he should chuse him whether he would fly before his enemies in warre or endure the famine for 3. three yeares or the plague and pestilence for 3. dayes he makes choyce of the last why so not onely for the maine cause as hee reueales because the mercies of God are great but as some note because as hee had beene an occasion of euill to the people by his sinne he would beare part of the burthen for in warre though his subiects had smarted it is likely he would haue escaped by flight or by strong holds in some castles or fortifications or in dearth and famine had there beene one pecke of corne in the land it is likely he should haue had part his part like the Lyons part in the Fable r Apud Aesopum in all probability shold haue been best but frō the plague there was no euasion the arrow of the Almightie might haue hit him as soon as the meanest in his Kingdome Besides in this choise he aimed also at the good of his people for had war come vpon them they would haue trusted in their sheild and target in their sword and bow and the strength of Israel had famine beene sent the poorer sort and Mechanickes perhaps had felt the chiefest smart the richer sort and monied men would either haue sent for corne into other Countryes as Iacob into Aegypt ſ Act. 7.12 or fled thither as Naomi into the Land of Moab t Ruth 1.6 they would haue changed their places as did Abraham u Gen. 12.10 and Isaac * Gen. 26.1 in the like cases but now in the plague and pestilence there is no euasion no